Loveland opens; ‘you’ve got to ski’

Mike "Gags" Gagliardi, of Golden, snowboards down Home Run Tuesday with a beer on Loveland Ski Area's opening day. Gagliardi says he always has a beer during his first run of the season. (Kristin Anderson/Vail Daily)

Zimmer grew up in nearby Georgetown and has been skiing here since he was five years old.

He refuses to wait for Park City to open.

“Ah shoot, that’s still two, three weeks away,” Zimmer said.

Opening day loyalists like Zimmer enjoyed the good snow, shining sun and fewer people on Loveland Ski Area’s wide, sole run Tuesday morning. Loveland was the second resort to open this year. Arapahoe Basin opened Oct. 11, the earliest in the nation.

Loveland’s run was a combination of a short catwalk and the runs Mambo and Home Run. The 1,365 ski area had an 18-inch base that had been topped with more than a foot of snow (groomed for opening day) from Saturday’s storm.

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The rest was manmade snow, which Loveland has been making for three weeks, said spokeswoman Kathryn Johnson.